Nestled between the G, H, and B keys on many laptop/notebook computers is a track point device. Often referred to as “the little red button,” the track point is a major selling feature of the notebooks such as IBM's ThinkPad line of computers (IBM, ThinkPad and related terms are trademarks of IBM Corp. in the United States and/or other countries). A present implementation of the track point causes the track point to work like a mouse device in that a computer cursor will move in a direction that corresponds to a horizontal manipulation of the track point. While the track point can be highly convenient, the size of the track point head is small so that one finger is used to manipulate the track point. In order to give more traction, the track point head can be covered with a cap.
One version of the track point is called the tactile track point, which has an actuator beneath the track point device that can stimulate the user's finger. The actuator bumps upwards against the user's finger to provide tactile feedback that indicates the meaning of the computer cursor location. With the tactile track point, the user can “feel” icons, title bars, menu items, and window borders. These responses allow more accurate movement and selection by complementing the visual feedback with a sense of touch.
Another type of track point is called the negative inertia track point. Specifically, the dynamics of computer cursor movement are important for fast and accurate manipulation. With static transfer functions, the movement is always somewhat sluggish. That is, it takes a finite time for the user to apply and remove force from the track point. Therefore the computer cursor motion always starts and stops slowly, as if the computer cursor had inertia—it takes time to get it moving and get it to stop again. Negative inertia solves this problem by counteracting that inertia. This effect is accomplished by exaggerating changes in the input force.
Unfortunately, each of the above track points require either horizontal movement of the track point's shaft or of the user's finger as pressure is applied to cause a movement of the computer cursor, which can cause wear and tear to the track point. In view of the foregoing there exists a need for an approach that solves at least one of the deficiencies of the related art.